Touring Barcelona, Spain

     I slept well last night in a much more comfortable bed.  The room was pretty chilly so we will ask for more blankets tonight.  It is warm and sunny today – on the way to 75.  So I opened the windows in the room and let the heat and warmth rush in.  We checked in with the rest of the group.  Marlene and Amanda are going to look for a place to wash clothes.  Carter has already gone through half his wardrobe with his diarrhea.   Matt doesn't feel well now so he is going to stay in bed.  They have a room that is a “family” room with some bunks as well as a crib.  We are off to a slow start.  Rick couldn't wake up  and Jenn and Arik are still jet-lagged.  I am hungry.  Rick, Arik and I finally got going to a coffee shop where I introduced Arik to Café con Leche.  He loved it too.
    We are in a nice area which is close to everything including some little grocery stores.  We stopped and bought some plain donuts and juice for Jennifer.  We picked her up and went to the square to buy tour bus tickets fall all day.  Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia – a cathedral that was designed by Anton Gaudi and is still in the process of being built.  Everywhere the architecture reflects natural elements of trees.  Anywhere you stand you can see interesting features in the pillars and spires of the church.  I had not known of this architect before, but Arik did a bunch of reading on his style.  After we talked about it I could see that many buildings in the old part of Barcelona were designed by Gaudi.  Jenn and Arik were really happy to be able to see so much of the town in such a short time.  They really enjoyed the tour bus.  We found a place with a bunch of soccer Jersey’s for Jennifer as Barcelona has one of the most famous soccer teams in the world.  Lunch was at a European McDonald's which was also very interesting and relatively cheap.
    We got back to the hotel and found that Matthew and Carter were mostly recovered, thank goodness.  Marlene and Amanda had found a place to do wash as well as some disposable diapers in a small grocery.  We all had to carry diapers in our luggage so that they would have enough on the cruise.  The cruise ship does not have diapers for sale.  Amanda and Marlene had taken Carter on the tour bus with them for the afternoon so they got in some sightseeing too.
    For dinner we went to a Tapa’s bar.  Each of us chose a couple small plates of various little appetizer type foods: Olives, little burgers, cheese croquets, fancy potatoes, and veggies.  We all shared.  It was so good and pretty cheap.  Dinner, including wine and beer, was only 52E for all of us.  The experience of sharing a meal in a sidewalk café on the streets of Barcelona was just priceless.
    We took some night pictures of the wonderful Barcelona architecture and then stopped at a “gelato” bar.  Oh my goodness, it is so good compared to ice cream.  I am glad that I had a pretty light breakfast and lunch so that I had plenty room for this treat.  We were back to the hotel by 9 and in bed by 10.  Tomorrow will be a busy day.